Ghost Bird Shorts
by Jordiscy
Summary: A collection of one-shots that are mostly humorous situations, but that is not guaranteed. Some romantic fluff or angsty drama may accidentally slip in.
1. Toes

**Toes**

**A/N: This story came into existence from random bouts of silliness taking place in the FB group created for the birds that got displaced from the forums overhaul. Thank you, fellow birds, for inspiring the humor out of my fingers and into type.**

For a Saturday, things were actually pretty quiet. Ever since my life had been turned upside down since meeting the gaggle of guys, I managed to keep pretty busy between getting wrapped up in their business (whether I was trying to or not was beside the point) or drama and mischief managing to find me.

Gabriel, Luke, and I were at Nathan's house, waiting for a family meeting. I had the privilege of sitting in on more and more meetings, and I discovered more and more of said meetings were happening at this particular house. It made sense, really. Two of us already lived here, myself included, and the chances of people not belonging to this particular Academy team walking in on us during a meeting was quite low since Nathan's father started working in East Asia. Everyone else's houses had family members also living there, taking away total privacy. However, Mr. Blackbourne made a point recently. As strategically favorable using Nathan's (and I supposed mine to a small degree since I also lived here) house to discuss business was, it was wise to not make too much of a habit out of it. Once it became habit, complacency settled in, and with complacency, people would get careless. Carelessness led to mistakes and compromises.

I wasn't sure if I would ever get use to the mentality of always checking over my shoulder that was so ingrained into the Academy guys. It seemed paranoid to me. But then again, if I managed to learn such habits to always guard my back the way they did, I just might not wind up in as many troubling situations as I found myself in of late.

My attention wandered back to the movie playing on the television in the living room. We were lucky to find a movie in Nathan's collection that was not horror; it was a kung fu martial arts movie instead. That fact did not surprise me.

I sat in the middle of the leather couch, the boys on either side of me. Luke laid on his side, his legs tucked up behind my back. He wore a simple button up shirt with most of the buttons undone to reveal a lot of his chest. Gabriel sat close to the edge giving live commentary to the costuming and whether the use of wires to lift the actors into graceful, flying acrobatics was appropriate for particular choreography scenes. I leaned against his shoulder, bare from the neon green tank he wore, and I inserted my own thoughts every now and again.

Movement and some light tugging of my hair at the back of my head made me think of how Luke played with my hair when he sat behind me in school. After class, I had to pass my hand down my dirty blonde locks to see if I had to untwist my hair from dozens of loops or not. The sensations on my scalp felt familiar, and I assumed Luke was doing similarly as we watched the movie. His hands must have been bored and needed to fidget.

Gabriel turned his head to ask a question of Luke, something about whether running across a rooftop as quickly as they were in the movie could possibly be as silent as they were portraying it. The question was half out of his mouth before he erupted, shooting off the couch with his arms shooting into the air to wave around in a rage. "What the flying fuck are you doing to her hair?!" he screeched.

I flinched and jerked, startled at his sudden change in demeanor, but my hair was wrapped around Luke's fingers tight enough to pull painfully. I reached back to press my hand against my scalp to find Luke's fingers hopelessly tangled in my strands…

…only they weren't his fingers.

Toes. Big, hairy, monkey toes were caught up in my hair. Luke was petting my hair with his feet?

Luke burst into laughter, making his leg jerk, which pulled on my hair. I squeaked in pain.

"God dammit, Luke! Get your filthy feet off of Trouble! You're hurting her!" Gabriel bellowed.

Luke was gasping for air. "I'm stuck," he said in between giggles. He wiggled his toes, tangling them up worse. How I managed not to panic, I wasn't quite sure.

"Good, you bastard. I'll go get a knife and cut your toes off. You deserve it." Gabriel started stomping toward the kitchen.

Luke's eyes grew wide. "You wouldn't!"

A drawer in the kitchen opened violently, and the kitchen utensils rattled inside it. "Watch me," Gabriel called back to us. "I'll even be merciful and let Doc stitch you up after I'm done. I should just make your toes into earrings for Sang to wear at Halloween."

I cringed and whimpered as my hands frantically set to unwinding my hair from around Luke's toes behind my head. Luke sat up awkwardly and joined me when we heard the telltale sound of a knife blade being run across the honing stick repeatedly. We finished right as Gabriel came back into view, holding up a large butcher knife beside his head like he belonged in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. I leapt to one side of the couch, and Luke shuffled to the opposite side, both of us trying to put as much space in between us to help convince Gabriel his drastic measures were no longer necessary.

"Aw. My toe turned blue," Luke said as he inspected his foot. He wiggled his toes to encourage the blood circulation to return to normal.

I glared at the blonde at the other end of the couch. "Why were your feet in my hair?"

Luke looked up at me and grinned mischievously. "Why not?"

"I'll tell you why not," Gabriel growled as he circled the couch and grabbed my hand. He lifted me to standing and started leading me toward the bathroom. "You have cooties, Luke, and now I need to wash it all out of Trouble's hair."

Soon thereafter, I found myself in a position I frequently found myself in when Gabriel was around, bent over a bathroom sink with his hip pressing into my shoulder. His fingers were massaging my scalp rhythmically when he spoke. "We need to get back at that motherfucker." He said it softly so the words would not be understood outside the closed bathroom door. Anyone standing out in the hallway could hear there was a conversation taking place, but the words themselves would be unintelligible.

I didn't quite agree with the name he called Luke, but I nodded my agreement at the motion he was suggesting. "An eye for an eye?" I asked, my voice echoing weirdly as it bounced around the curve of the sink.

Gabriel's fingers picked up their pace in my hair. "Toe for a toe is more like it, but yeah. Except we can't do it. He'll be expecting it from us. We need to outsource."

I knew the answer quickly. "Dr. Green," I managed to spit out before Gabriel turned on the water to rinse the suds off my head. The doctor was goofy and playful in his own right, and I was positive we could easily convince him to help in our cause.

"Perfect," Gabriel said as soon as he turned the water off. "You keep Luke distracted. I'll recruit the Doc."

By the time Gabriel had conditioned and blow dried my hair, the other guys were starting to trickle into the house. We were forced out of the bathroom by Silas when he knocked. Silas was hopping back and forth on his feet in the hallway like a five year old doing the pee-pee dance, which appeared very odd coming from the biggest male of the group.

"Hi, _Aggele Mou,_" he said with a grin as we traded places in the bathroom doorway. "Bye, _Aggele Mou,_" he said as he closed the door.

"Freaky deek," Gabriel muttered over his shoulder as he went into the main body of the house. Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne were just coming through the front door as Gabriel and I emerged into the living room. "Oy! Doc. Can I talk to you for a bit?"

Dr. Green raised an eyebrow as he closed the door behind him. "Yeah. Sure. What's up, Gabe?"

Gabriel nodded his head toward the kitchen. "In private please? It concerns a personal matter." The both went off to where they could not be overheard.

Mr. Blackbourne nodded his head as he passed me. "Miss Sorenson," he offered his regular greeting before wandering further into the house and tapping into his phone.

I got hugs and twirls from North, Victor, and Nathan. We were just waiting for Kota to arrive before we could begin the family meeting. Victor asked me to sit by him on the floor by the coffee table, but I meekly shook my head at him. The fire in his eyes notched down a few degrees at the rejection, but I was on a mission. North tried to guide me by my hips to sit on his lap in the arm chair, but I resisted. The defiance made his eyes darken, but not in an angry way. If anything, it made him look _hungry_.

Instead, I grabbed Luke by the shoulders and pushed him down to sit on the center spot of the couch. I crawled up into his lap and curled into his chest, effectively trapping him into place. He seemed confused for a tick, but then relaxed enough to start petting my hair.

"Nuh uh," Nathan said from the floor in front of the coffee table. "You and Gabe had her all afternoon. Give her up."

Luke's arms snaked around my sides and pulled me in tighter to him. "I can't. I need to keep a close eye on this one, or she's going to get me."

Dr. Green poked his head into the living room and called out, "Owen! Come here for a moment."

My phone pinged and vibrated against my chest, and I hunched over to hide pulling it out of my bra. I checked the text message as Gabriel plopped onto the seat next to Luke and me. The way I was angled in Luke's lap prevented him from being able to see the screen.

**Gabriel:** This shit has gone political power play. Doc is vouching for us and getting Mr. B in on our cause.

"What do you mean?" Victor asked as I read the text.

"I got caught twirling Sang's hair with my feet earlier," Luke answered. The rest of the room groaned and cursed. Silas sat in the remaining spot on the couch next to us as he was faking dry heaves in response to Luke's confession. "I need to keep tabs on Gabe too. They're out for me. I can feel it."

North snorted. "Serves you right."

Kota came in shortly thereafter, and Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne rejoined us. Ten people crowded in Nathan's living room, and the family meeting started. To get comfortable, I wrapped my arm loosely around Luke's shoulders. My fingers mindlessly fidgeted with his long blonde locks. He caught my fingers quickly and smiled down at me, making sure I had not somehow managed to get my toes near his head. I smiled coyly back at him and continued to pet once he released my hand.

Mr. Blackbourne got everyone to report how their home lives were going, one at a time and straight down the line. There wasn't any new or interesting developments on that front. He then gave the floor to Dr. Green, who stood in front of the TV and focused our attention, providing a lecture on flu season, what we needed to know about the flu shot, and general hygiene practices to avoid spreading the virus. During this time, Mr. Blackbourne slowly paced around the entire living room, observing us much as he did to me during my violin lessons at school. He circled twice before stopping behind the couch and tilting to the side slightly. He caught my eye and his lips lifted in his signature millimeter smile. North in the armchair could also see him, so Mr. Blackbourne waved a simple hand gesture to alleviate any of North's curiosity and command him not to bring any attention to what he was doing.

Luke was focused on Dr. Green. He had no clue when Mr. Blackbourne lifted his leg behind him with his dress shoe and sock off his foot. Mr. Blackbourne and I made eye contact, came to an instant understanding, then he seamlessly replaced my fingers at the back of Luke's head and continued the same motions and rhythm I previously had in petting. I was in awe at how flexible Mr. Blackbourne was to maintain such a straight posture during this feat along with his amazing sense of balance to keep the prank up for several minutes straight.

Dr. Green's voice remained steady in his lecture about germs, but his expression became brighter and more animated as he watched the exchange take place. Soon, he looked like a madman who was much too enthusiastic and happy to be talking about the flu virus.

Carefully, I unwrapped my arm from around Luke as Mr. Blackbourne continued to pet and fiddle with Luke's hair. I readjusted myself in Luke's lap and brought his hands around me so I could play with both of this thumbs. Eventually, he looked down and took inventory of my limbs. His brow furrowed in confusion, then he looked over at Gabriel, whose own hands and feet were in plain view in front of him. A look of fear cross his face as he slowly turned to see who was petting the back of his head, the motion squishing me up against Silas's shoulder. Luke's nose met with Mr. Blackbourne's big toe.

Mr. Blackbourne wiggled his toes in Luke's face.

"What the hell?!" Luke screamed as he shot up to standing, sending me falling onto my butt to the floor. I was laughing too hard to notice any pain. Dr. Green was doubled over laughing just as hard. Silas was reaching down to gather me up off the floor, and every other head was whipped around to see what the commotion was about.

Gabriel cackled like a hyena. Mr. Blackbourne picked up his sock and shoe from the floor and made his way to sit on the edge of the coffee table to put them back on his bare foot. "Mr. Taylor, I believe you need to learn the benefits of making allies when it comes to warfare."


	2. May the 4th

May the 4th

North's eyes fluttered open, followed by a groan. There was an annoying sound going off right by his ear, disturbing him from his sleep. It sounded like Kermit the Frog with a horrible head cold, and he wouldn't shut up. Hadn't the Muppet heard of vocal arrest?

"Text message, you have," it said again.

"For fuck's sake," North grumbled as he turned over on his bed and grabbed his phone to check the time. Unplugging it from its charging cord, the iPhone screen automatically illuminated to show that it was only two minutes before his normal alarm to wake sounded.

"Text message, you have." The voice came from the phone. His notifications informed his eyes adjusting to the blinding backlit screen that he indeed had a new text message. North quickly slide his thumb across the screen to unlock it and tapped to his messages, forcing himself to wake fully just in case it was Sang with another one of her night terrors.

**Victor: **Brace yourself. It's May the 4th today.

North let out a loud breath he didn't realize he was holding as he slumped back down onto his mattress. It wasn't from Sang. She didn't suffer through the night. Hopefully, she had gotten some real rest for once, even if it wasn't in his arms that time.

He had started dozing off, thankful the voice with the frog in its throat wasn't bugging him anymore about texts. His shoulders had just started to relax and really get comfortable as his breathing evened out when his phone, lying face down on his chest, erupted in a cacophony of noise. It startled him so badly, he jolted with limbs flailing, hopelessly tangling himself up in his sheets until he fell to the floor of his trailer with a loud thump.

His phone, still screaming, was sandwiched between the floor and his scruffy cheek. He could make out from the corner of his eye that it was his morning alarm trying to wake him, but he had no idea why it was blaring the Imperial March/Darth Vader theme instead of his normal loud beep he set it up to do.

North had just managed to pull free an arm and turn off the deafeningly loud music on his phone when the door to his bedroom burst open and Luke came flying in like a ninja. The shorter blonde wore khakis tucked into knee high horse riding boots with a light blue and fluffy bath robe. In his hands was a pool cue, and he was waving it around like a weapon. If he wasn't trained to be fully aware of himself in his setting, Luke would have been knocking everything in North's trailer over with the wooden pole.

"What the hell?! Luke!" North roared as he pulled himself up to standing, not caring that his brother saw him in nothing but his black boxer briefs. He kicked his top sheet toward his bed before he realized what Victor's text was warning him about. The day was May 4th, the day Luke had dedicated to celebrating his love for the Star Wars franchise along with the other dorks of popular society. The twerp managed to pick pocket North's phone off him sometime during the previous day, change the settings for at least the text alert and his alarm clock. Who knew what other settings he had tampered with before planting it back in North's pocket?

"May the 4th be with you!" Luke cheered before jumping around like a hyperactive lemur, twirling the cue around like a bo staff and humming some light saber noises.

"Vmmmm… Hrmmmmmm… Ksss! Fwoooooom…"

"Get out of my trailer, Luke!" North bellowed. "Go put on your uniform! You can't wear a bath robe to school."

Luke crab walked out of the bedroom and toward the door. "Yes, Darth Taylor!" he said with a cheeky grin before leaping out of the trailer and back to the house he and Uncle lived in.

**Later That Day**

Lunchtime was always hell at Ashley Waters High, but North was glad to tolerate it. It was the rare time all his brothers, with the exception of Mr. Blackbourne and the Doc, could gather together and enjoy each other's company. Yeah, they usually spent the time catching up on homework or finding way to surreptitiously discuss family matters, but some time all together was better than none. The fact that Sang joined them every day was just the cherry on top.

North noticed Luke still had on the knee high riding boots on underneath the grey slacks of his faux uniform. A part of him wanted to chastise his brother for breaking dress code, but he knew he had been rather strict with him lately. Luke needed his ways to unwind, so North could let the little things go every now and then. Besides, North had a habit of pushing the limits when it came to the fake dress code he and his brothers had to adhere to anyways. It wouldn't be fair to hold Luke to a different standard.

A handful of his brothers and Sang sat on the concrete benches in their claimed little corner of the court yard, facing each other and trading off various Star Wars quotes with each other. Luke managed to get Gabriel and Sang to stand up and bob around as they all hummed the Cantina theme song together while pretending to play various piped wind instruments, making the rest of our group and some of the other surrounding students break into laughter.

Luke had just announced that his last name had officially changed to "Skywalker" for the day, making Sang giggle, before he plopped onto the ground right next to North and leaned in so their shoulders were pressing together. "Say it," Luke said with a nudge.

North's eyes narrowed into a half-hearted glare. "No."

"Aw, c'mon! Sang hasn't heard it before. You need to do it!"

North's eyes rolled as he huffed in reluctance. "Fine." He looked up to make sure his Sang Baby's big and glittering green eyes were focused on him, making sure she didn't miss this else he had to do it again. He would have done it again for her sake too, but North would never admit that out loud. Lifting his hands to cup around his mouth, be broke his gaze off the petite little girl that held his heart to look at his blonde brother to properly perform the antic. For Sang's sake. Breathing heavily into his cupped palms to muffle his already low voice, North said:

"Luke… I am your brother…"

The sound of Sang's giggles as she doubled over in laughter, paired with Luke's beaming smile, was well worth the humiliation.


	3. A Year of Mistaken Identity

Sang's eyes rhythmically went back and forth, left to right, top to bottom. To Nathan only half conscious lying across the leather couch in his living room, she appeared to be reading her required novel for her English class. If he had not been running on only two hours of sleep the night prior due to an Academy assignment, he would have noticed Sang's eyes going over the same page of the tattered paperback for the past half hour in the armchair.

While her body was caught up in the motions of reading, her mind was focused on something entirely different from _A Farewell to Arms_. Instead, her thoughts were on something else she read earlier that day.

During lunch period at Ashley Waters, North demanded Sang to hand over the notes passed on to her from the first half of the school day. Most of her friends were up late the previous night and had not intercepted all the notes from their classmates due to fatigue and exhaustion. A few managed to land on her desk, and she dutifully shoved them into her backpack with the intent to surrender them to North anyways. She never bothered to read the content.

As she fished them out of her book bag, a gust of wind caught one and whipped it away from the rest. It didn't get too far though; it smacked right into Silas's broad chest. The Greek took it and unfolded it in curiosity.

He didn't get a chance to read too much before a fight in the cafeteria broke out. Kota shot up and instantly barked out orders, demanding Nathan, North, Silas and himself to head straight into the scuffle. Victor was to contact Mr. Blackbourne, leaving Gabriel and Luke to keep Sang company at the benches.

Everyone jumped into action, forgetting the notes for the moment, including the one Silas opened and left face up on his seat.

Right next to Sang.

Darn her traitorous eyes for scanning over the scribbled words on the lined loose leaf paper, because she came to understand the proverb, "Curiosity killed the cat."

She managed not to think about the contents of the note for a while, filing her contemplations away while she worried about the wellbeing of her friends among the mob in the cafeteria. No one got hurt; two girls just got into a heated argument over a boy, and no disciplinary action was needed.

The note Sang accidentally read surfaced in her thoughts as she did her homework at Nathan's house that afternoon. The words and implications plagued her mind and refused to let her focus on her studies. She feared Kota's disappointment.

"You want something to drink, Sang?" Nathan asked her as he lunged up from his reclined position on the sofa. He really wanted to get some juice into his system to wake himself up.

Sang looked up from the pages of her book but it was obvious she did not hear the question. Her face easily betrayed her and broadcasted other things were on her mind, things that worried her.

"Peanut? Are you okay?" Nathan asked as he stretched with his arms over his head.

"Hm? What did you say?" She blinked several times as her mind returned to the present.

"I asked if you wanted anything to drink," he said with a raised eyebrow.

She closed her book with a finger in between the pages to keep her spot. "Yes. Thank you."

He made his way to the kitchen and poured two glasses of orange juice, handing one to Sang when he returned. "What are you thinking about?" he asked after draining half his glass.

Sang knew that once he suspected something was on her mind, there was no point in hiding it. Her friends always managed to pull it out of her and face the issues to be discussed and anything that needed to be solved. "I accidentally read one of the notes passed to me in class today," she admitted on a weary sigh. She held up her hand to keep Nathan from exploding and going on the expected tirade. She had heard it before. Thankfully, Nathan understood and obliged to the gesture, allowing her to continue. "I know I'm supposed to ignore anything they say because none of their words matter. It's hard to control my thoughts about it, though. The implication, and with what we are…"

Nathan sighed and ruffled his mahogany hair until it stuck out in every direction. "What is seen cannot be unseen, right?" He knew that ignorance was bliss, but very fragile. Once broken, one just had to pick up the pieces and move on.

Sang bit her lip and nodded.

"Do you still have it?"

She leaned over to her backpack at the foot of the armchair, rummaging around until he grasped and pulled out the folded sheet of paper from the very bottom. Nathan took it from her fingers, making sure his own brushed against hers to reassure his affections before he fell back into the couch across from her. He cursed after opening up the folds and reading the words inside.

"Peanut, this isn't true. You have to know that, right?" He crumpled up the note and tossed it onto the coffee table, where it bounced and spun a little.

Sang's eyes did not meet Nathan's, preferring to watch the balled up trash on the table instead. "It has a point." Her voice was hollow.

Nathan stood and pulled Sang up by her hands until he could gather her shoulders in his arms for a hug. She clutched at the front of his t-shirt and buried her nose into his collar bone. "We aren't 'grooming' you to be a pet, sex kitten, or anything like that. You're family, an equal. You're nothing less than any one of us. Hell, you're probably more."

"I seriously doubt that last bit," she muttered, muffled by his shirt and surrounded by the comforting scent of leather and cypress.

"Shush, you. You underestimate yourself." Despite the claim that she was not a pet, his hand rubbed up and down her back in comforting motions. "As for '_your snatch is the only thing keeping you in their good graces,'_" he quoted with a sneer; the crudeness of the wording felt gross on his tongue as he said it, "that's the furthest thing from the truth. I like you for who you are. I like this…" he lifted his hand and poked a fingertip onto her temple, "…and this." His feet stepped back a pace while bracing her to stay still, putting air between their bodies so he could tap a spot under her left collar bone.

Sang's nose crinkled. "You like my boob?"

Nathan's eyebrows rose to nearly his hairline as his face flushed red. "No! I mean, yes. NO! Oh god, Sang." He smacked himself on the cheeks a few times, his head playing tennis between his palms. "You have great boobs, but I'm talking about the heart behind one of them. That's what makes you _you_."

She sighed, but her eyes were still forlorn. "I understand you, and I believe you, but I can't help but think that I wouldn't be here with you and the other guys if I wasn't a girl. My gender seems to be the only thing working for me at times, then against me at others."

The chuckle from his low voice surprised her, making her jerk to look at him in the face for the first time all afternoon. His dark blue eyes twinkled in amusement to match the upwards curl of his lips. He guided her to the couch and situated them until she sat sideways on his lap, tucking her head under his chin with his arms wrapped around her waist. She did not resist.

"Let me tell you a story," Nathan began with the smile still on. "We told you Kota, Victor, Luke, Gabe, and I were in school together since Kindergarten, right?"

Sang nodded.

"The five of us were really close friends. Victor couldn't really hang out with us after school, and Gabe only sometimes. That didn't make them any less of friends. We shared things among each other, from clothes, to toys, Gameboys, and secrets. Then there's the pranks. The pranks were epic. We pulled some on people who deserved them, but mostly we just pranked each other. Of course, Luke was behind most of them, but there were times when we got him back pretty good.

"Just before first grade started, Luke got Kota to convince me I was actually a girl."

Sang jumped until she sat erect to blink repeatedly at him. "You can't be serious!" Her eyes scanned down his upper body from his angled jaw stubbled from a day's worth of growth, to his muscled shoulders and arms that bragged of his disciplined weight training, and the trunk of his body hugged by the undershirt leftover from his faux school uniform that showed his inverted triangle form. She knew she sat on thighs that rippled in strength and led down to the rest of his legs covered in manly, curly hair hidden by the dark grey slacks he had yet to change out of. There was no possible way he could have been mistaken for a girl.

Nathan outright laughed at her, being able to read her thoughts from her facial expressions and the path of her examining eyes. "This was way before puberty, Peanut. I was a cute kid. Remind me next time we're at Kota's, and we'll get out Erica's photo albums."

Sang thought he was still pretty cute. Well, maybe _cute_ wasn't the correct term. Drool-worthy and aching-to-be-touched handsome was far more applicable.

Nathan appeared he could read those thoughts too and bellowed with more laughter, the deep timbre resonating through him and into Sang. He bounced his knees up and down, jostling her playfully in his lap.

"As I was saying, the lot of them convinced me I was a girl. They said the hospital where I was born made a mistake and didn't realize it until after I was taken home, but my mom decided it was best for my father to keep believing I was a boy. The logic was that my mother was a girl, and look at the way he treated her." The humor was gone from his eyes as bad memories from the past were dredged up. The story came to a lull as he lost himself in dark feelings.

Sang panicked slightly. She didn't want Nathan to get depressed by trying to fix her own depressing thoughts, so she picked up his hand, isolated his pointer finger, and slipped it past her lips. Her molars gnawed on the fingernail, and it was enough to bring him back to the present with a half-smile.

"Where was I? Oh yeah." He was content to leave his finger there. He wanted to pop her own finger into his mouth, but the teen figured it would make his story telling too difficult to be clearly understood. "Now that I think about it, the excuse the guys came up with was kind of mean, but that's all beside the point."

Sang thought that was _really_ mean.

"So, for my own good and because it was too much trouble to change my birth certificate, I was dressed up and was told I was a boy for my entire life. They even got Erica to play along for a bit when Jessica was a toddler. I asked I could dress Baby Jessica in boy clothes so I wouldn't be the only girl wearing Charizard pajamas and Batman undies." He shook his head back and forth, chuckling to himself. It was obvious Nathan held no grudges. "It stuck the entire school year.

"There was a point where I got so bummed about being a girl, I tried to keep away from Victor, Gabe, and them, and especially when at school we all teased, pointed, and made fun of the girls in our class. I figured they couldn't like me since I was a girl too. They wouldn't have any of that, so they cornered me one day and made me understand that it didn't matter if I was a boy or a girl to them. I was still Nathan, and I would forever be their friend.

"They still played with me. Erica still let me run away to Kota's house when my dad had his episodes. We all still shared toys, video games, and secrets. We threw rocks at other girls and called them stupid."

Sang was giggling incessantly with the mental images she conjured.

"It all ended at the end of the school year. I worked myself up and was determined to accept myself for who I was. I got up all the courage a seven year old could ever have and demanded my mother to get me a dress to wear for the first grade awards ceremony the last week of school. It had to be red. Well, my dad heard of it and beat the tar out of me, then my mother for putting sick ideas into my head. I escaped to Kota's house, and that's when Kota told me it was all a big joke Luke made up. I didn't believe him at first. I still didn't believe it after Erica sat me down, explained the anatomical difference between the genders, and reassured me I was a real boy. Kota had to whip his peener out and show me for the fact to finally sink in, not with Erica or Jessica in the room, of course."

A blush burned across Sang's cheeks when he got to that last part. She was glad she was nestled back into his chest so he couldn't see her embarrassment for imagining what he told her.

"The point of the story," he continued, "is that I don't give a rat's ass whether you're a boy or a girl either. You're my friend. You're family. Male or female, you're one of us now. And I promise you, Peanut, all the other guys feel the same way. If you were a dude with a twig and berries who hung to the left, we'd still choose you as family."

She sucked on his finger to draw the excess saliva off the calloused skin before slipping it out of her mouth. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, her innocent mind trying to decipher what he meant by 'hung to the left.' What if she hung whatever it was to the right? Would it matter?

Nathan cupped her cheeks in between her palms and focused her green eyes onto his pair of blue. "It's a guy thing, Sang. Don't hurt yourself thinking too hard." He tried the thing Gabriel did with her every so often and squished her cheeks forward until her lips puckered comically toward him. He smirked, proud of himself. "But I will let you know that if you were a guy, I guarantee I would not enjoy doing this." His own lips puckered and came in contact with hers for a sloppy kiss.

**A/N: This was intended to be pure humor for me to tease and poke fun at Nathan, but things got a little serious at the beginning. Now that it's over, I kinda like Nathan now. Well, he's growing on me. Darn my Left Boob for automatically rooting for the underdog.**

**For the record, this prank was one we pulled on one of my sisters. She believed it for three years straight. I'm driving the bus to hell if anyone wants a ride!**


	4. Violin Issues

Violin Issues

Mr. Blackbourne parked his BMW and pulled on the hand brake before turning the key to the off position. In front of him was the purple condominium where his best friend lived. Sean would be clocking out from his shift at the hospital soon, and the pair of them would partake of dinner together to discuss the recent happenings of their family and Academy business. At least, that was the plan.

Instead of immediately opening the driver side door after unbuckling his seat belt as he usually did, the still-technically-a-teenager paused for once in his busy lifestyle and sat back in the seat. The fingertips of his left hand tapped a rhythm of triplets at the top of the steering wheel as his grey eyes narrowed at the violin case leaning against the front passenger door. The poor thing had been so neglected recently, he could practically hear it calling out to him for attention.

He grabbed the handle to the case and pulled it across his lap so he could carry like it a briefcase with him as he swung his legs out the door. _I should have just left it at my home,_ he thought to himself. Right now, the violin was just extra baggage he took with him. Another liability he had to keep responsibility and inventory for as he went about his business for the day.

A couple weeks prior, he pulled out the stringed instrument for his daily practice, eager to start on the Jascha Heifetz violin and piano arrangement of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, originally by Debussy. The sheet music was fresh out of the mailbox, and his ebony violin was tuned and ready to play. Mr. Blackbourne warmed up with the rudimentary scales and arpeggios, attacking them harshly with martelé and staccatos, giving the sequential and strictly patterned pitches an aggressive voice. He wanted to start off in the opposite style than the piece he wanted to practice, which was legato, serene, and delicate. The airy, impressionist piece depicted precisely what the title implied. He found he could better focus on the lighter styles once he loosened up by sawing at the strings first.

Unfortunately, as the horsehair of his bow attacked the fine instrument, the bridge slipped. The thin sliver of maple succumbed to the immense pressure between the body and the strings, knocking off and flying across the room. The resulting cacophony from the strings suddenly losing their tension was discordant and startling. The thickest of the four strings did not survive the trauma.

Normally, the issue was a quick fix. Mr. Blackbourne simply picked up the little piece of wood that normally supported the strings up and off the black fingerboard of the instrument and tried to wedge it back into place. From there, he just needed to replace the broken string and retune, then practice could commence. Yet, there was not a spare G-string. He had yet to stop by his favorite music shop and purchase more as a back stock, and he was paying the price for his unpreparedness.

Mr. Blackbourne made mention of his lack of a G-string in the company of several of his brothers, but that resulted in crude jokes about undergarments from Luke and Gabriel, which in turn made Kota and Victor blush.

Normally, he devoted his undivided attention when it came to sweeping the condo for any security compromises. However, that day his mind split itself between concentrating on finding any hidden bugs or signs of unwelcomed entry, and just how busy his life had become and affected his music practice. With the assignment at Ashley Waters and the complications from Volto, various family issues among his brothers, and Mr. McCoy's obsession with Miss Sorenson, he had not been able to make the time to stop by the music store. He could have easily ordered his favorite brand of strings online, but he preferred to spend his money on the local establishment to keep them in business and to stimulate the local Charleston economy. Even if he did have a functioning instrument, he was still too occupied taking care of his family and evading tails stalking his car. He had not fulfilled his promise to teach Sang how to play the elegant instrument of yet either. Their designated class time together was devoted to preparing her with vital skills for her own survival within the mission at the public school, along with guiding her to blossom into being her own beautiful individual.

Instructing her to make music at this point was a luxury, he reminded himself. As was his own practice of the instrument. Despite this, he still kept his hands well-manicured more out of habit so his nails would not impede his fingertips and how they pressed the strings to the fingerboard.

Sean's condo was clean. Mr. Blackbourne had to double check himself since he knew he wasn't paying full attention to the detailed spots the first go around. He sent another glare at the violin case on the floor and tucked up against the side of the living room sofa. It wasn't the instrument's fault, but he didn't want to focus his frustrations on himself at the moment. He wanted to play. Two weeks was much too long to go without drawing the bow across the strings. Those precious few moments he managed to do so was the time he used to unwind, the only opportunity he afforded his busy mind to relax and get lost in music. The lack of doing so was taking a toll on him, both mentally and physically. Just that morning he had to shoo Gabriel away from trying to apply concealer to the dark circles under his eyes.

Not like Mr. Blackbourne could have practiced at Sean's condo anyways. The unit next door contained a stereotypical crazy cat lady with a dozen felines, and she came knocking to complain about the noise every time he played. The vibrations through the walls were not received well by the cats, and they would wail and annoy the woman.

He pushed his glasses further up his nose before shrugging off his suit jacket and draping it over the back of one of the dining chairs. If dinner was going to be ready at a decent hour, he had to get started on its preparation immediately, else Sean was going to have chili dogs to eat. Mr. Blackbourne's nose wrinkled at the thought.

Once inside the kitchen, Mr. Blackbourne realized he should have done a third sweep of the condo for compromises, for he completely missed what was waiting for him on top of the island counter. A lined index card sat on top of a square, paper envelope. The card was adorned with Dr. Green's messy handwriting. The Good Doctor always denied it when asked, but their brothers were convinced medical school had a course devoted to making one's penmanship completely illegible as a prerequisite to becoming a doctor. Nonetheless, Mr. Blackbourne was always able to decipher the hasty scribbles and chicken scratch from his best friend.

_Owen,_

_You play. I get to bring home pizza. Fair tradeoff._

_Sean_

_P.S. Fuck the Cat Lady (not literally)._

He felt the corner of his lip lift in what Miss Sorenson called his millimeter smile. Sean, ever observant to the wellbeing of his best friend and brother, noticed just how stressed out Mr. Blackbourne had been of late, and knew exactly how to remedy it. The envelope underneath the note contained a coiled string of his favorite brand.

Evening was nigh, but that faun was about to take an afternoon stroll.


	5. The Juvenile Assignment

Luke was in the driver's seat of the black jeep as evening was approaching. His chocolate brown eyes were trained on the road as Gabriel sat beside him playing navigator. All Gabriel had to do was relay the information the Maps app on his iPhone displayed, but the teen couldn't help but stir up conversation with questions and speculations.

"We'll be out before midnight, right?" he half asked, half stated as he ran his fingers through his hair, blending the blonde fore locks in with the rest of the russet that was finally starting to grow out the way he wanted. "I mean, how hard can this assignment be? Easiest three favors ever." Gabriel really needed them, so he did not hesitate to throw his hand up into the air when Kota asked for volunteers the day before.

"I don't know, man," Luke said. "We've never done this kind of job before. Even North looked concerned."

"North always looks concerned," Gabriel retorted.

A smile tugged on Luke's lips. Gabriel had a point. "Hear me out. I live with the guy. Sort of. This was more so than his usual look. He's done this sort of thing before. He knows we're walking into something more than what's in the file, and that makes me nervous."

"When the hell did North do _this_?" Gabriel asked incredulously. "He's the last person I'd expect to pull one of these jobs."

"Sometime last year," Luke answered. "Not for this bird, but he did it."

"Well, fuck me sideways. I didn't know he had it in him."

The jeep parked at the correct address stated in the file, a typical home that did not stand out from any of the others in the area. Side by side, they headed for the door.

"Any guesses to where she's going?" Luke asked quietly as his eyes scanned around their surroundings, making sure no one was paying attention to them.

Gabriel inspected the home's exterior and quickly analyzed any pertinent details that may factor into their mission as he answered. "No clue. Maybe a hot date."

"She's married," Luke said.

"A hot date with her husband?"

Luke shook his head, his long blonde hair bouncing about his shoulders. "He's deployed."

"Then fuck if I know," Gabriel answered as he reached forward and knocked on the door. "It's her business. Not all secrets are important."

Luke nodded. "They only look important because they're secret," he finished reciting the lesson Mr. Blackbourne taught them as part of their Academy training.

The door flung open, revealing a woman at least ten years older than the teens. As soon as she realized who they were, her expression relaxed from the stressed out state it was originally set in. "Oh, thank the gods. I knew I could count on y'all to be right on time." She stepped to the side and beckoned with her arm circling for them to enter the home. "Dinner is in the slow cooker, and you two are more than welcome to any snacks in the kitchen." As she spoke, she busied around the door, grabbing a purse to sling over her shoulder and shoving her feet into a pair of shoes. "All the important phone numbers are on the fridge."

She gave them no warning before she grabbed Gabriel by the head, stood up on her tippy toes to compensate for her shorter height, and assaulted him with a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek. Luke got the same treatment, leaving both boys standing still in shock, eyes wide and speechless.

"I freaking love you two. Good luck!" She flew out the door, closing it hastily behind her.

Luke and Gabriel looked at each other, flabbergasted.

"Don't give them sugar or caffeine!" the woman's voice sounded through the closed door before the engine of a car roared to life and peeled away, taking her from the home.

"What the flying f—"

Luke stopped Gabriel from finishing the expletive by pressing his index finger against his friend's lips.

They both sensed the presence of others not too much deeper in the house. The hairs on the back of their necks were standing on end from little stares boring into their backs. Together and in synchrony, Gabriel and Luke turned, slowly and cautiously to face their assignments for the night.

Standing in the middle of the living room were a little boy and girl. The girl was older, age six based on the file. Her eyes were several shades darker than her medium brown hair that fell about her shoulders. The boy was shorter with a stockier bone structure, age four. He looked like he was built to be a defensive linesman on a football team. His eyes and hair buzzed close to his skull matched the girl's colors perfectly. They were siblings, and they stared at the teenage boys with wide eyed curiosity.

The girl spoke first, breaking the awkward silence among the four of them as they observed each other. "Are you the babysitters?"

Luke dropped to his knees, putting himself on the same eye level as the girl. A smile easily graced his lips, making him appear friendly and approachable. "Yes! We most certainly are! You must be Molly."

The girl nodded her head.

Gabriel bent at the waist to lower his gaze to the little boy's. "And that must make you Tex."

The boy's head flopped up and down in a general affirmative gesture.

Gabriel looked to Luke from the corner of his eyes. "See? Piece of cake."

And Gabriel believed himself for the split second of peace before Tex took in a deep breath, making his chest barrel out. Suddenly, he released all the air he took in as an ear splitting shriek, making Luke fall back onto his ass and Gabriel wince into his shoulder.

It wasn't a scream of pain or fright. No, it was more a squeal of uncontained glee as his legs exploded into running away from the group and into another part of the home.

"What was that in his hand?" Gabriel asked.

"I don't know," Luke replied.

"Ketchup," Molly answered.

"Ketchup?" both teens said in unison as their eyebrows crept up their foreheads.

The little girl nodded. "He stole it while Mommy was giving me a bye-bye kiss."

"God damn!" Gabriel exclaimed. Molly gasped at his choice of vocabulary. "That was the whole bottle! Was he drinking it?"

"I got him," Luke announced as he followed Tex's trail, leaving the other two in the living room.

Molly shook her head slowly back and forth as she stared Gabriel down. "You said bad words. You have to go to the stop station now."

"Stop…station?"

Molly took Gabriel's hand with her own, tiny fingers, and tugged on him. Gabriel followed, hoping his curiosity would be answered with wherever she was taking him.

She led him to the dining area behind the living room, and then dropped his arm. In a corner of the room, a little laminated sign was affixed to the wall with brass thumb tacks. The sign was a line of clipart: a stop sign on top, a crudely drawn person with no hair on his head sitting on a chair just below it, and a similarly bald head with a finger over his mouth on the bottom. Molly took one of the chairs from under the dining table and scooted it to face the sign on the wall.

"Sit, please," she said to Gabriel.

Gabriel was pretty sure he figured out what was going on, but he didn't want to believe it. He asked for confirmation. "Why?"

Molly's hands planted on her hips as she scowled. "You said bad words. That's five minutes in the stop station. _Sit, please._"

He sat.

She set a large and vibrant blue hour glass on the corner of the table, well within Gabriel's line of sight. The cap on the top stated in an easy-to-read font "5 minutes."

The sand timer flipped, and the grains of blue sand started trickling through the narrowed passage at the middle of the bulbous glass to pile at the bottom.

"Are you serious?" Gabriel asked.

"No talking at stop station!" Molly reprimanded while pointing at the third clipart icon: the bald head with the finger.

So Gabriel sat, his crystal blue eyes glaring back and forth from that laminated print out to the blue sand steadily falling to the bottom of the timer.

Luke walked by with the bottle of ketchup in one hand and a squirming boy under his other arm. The blonde teen paused in his steps when he noticed his best friend sitting and facing the wall.

"What are you doing, Gabe?"

Gabriel's index finger shot out and pointed to the bald face, not bothering to turn his head.

While Luke was distracted, Tex managed to wiggle out of his grip and run off.

"Where's Molly?" Luke asked.

There was still sand in the top half of the timer. Gabriel furiously pointed at the _shh_ man again.

Luke shrugged and headed to the kitchen. "I'll go ahead and serve up dinner," he said to Gabriel over his shoulder before rounding the corner.

Tex was found sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor with the jar of sweet pickle relish nestled in his lap. A spoon was on the way from the jar to his mouth.

"Ew. Gross, little man. Even _I_ have my boundaries." Luke took up the jar and put it, along with the ketchup, back into the refrigerator. "You are obviously hungry. Let's get you some real food and eat some dinner, okay?"

Tex stood up and started jumping excitedly. "Yay! Dinner!"

"Thank God!" Gabriel shouted from the dining room. "That was the longest five minutes of my entire life!"

"Go find Molly, will you?" Luke asked from where he was searching for plateware among the cabinets above the kitchen counter.

All four sat down around the table to eat after Tex helped prepare all the toppings and garnishes. The crock pot held taco soup, and the boy absolutely refused to let anyone have any until the cheese was shredded, tortilla chips crumbled, sour cream dolloped, and cilantro sprinkled on top.

This soup was different than what Sang usually made. This kind had shredded white meat chicken instead of ground beef, but the two teens silently agreed with each other this version wasn't bad.

Molly talked the entire meal, and good lord, she could talk. Neither boy could figure out how she managed to eat her entire bowl of soup with how much her mouth was involved with the constant stream of words.

Gabriel and Luke desperately tried to follow along with her tale about some father, not her father, doing something with gummy worms, milkshakes, and something about a life class, but her words made little sense. When they asked her what she meant, she would simply repeat herself, leaving the boys wallowing in their ignorance. They eventually figured out she would just keep talking if they stopped paying attention, enabling them to eat their meal in peace. Their little plan backfired when Molly asked their opinion on something, and they could not provide an adequate answer. Thus, Molly started explaining herself all over again using the same exact words in the same exact order.

"I think I'm going to need some coffee to survive the night," Gabriel announced as everyone gathered up their empty bowls for post-dinner clean up.

"After dinner coffee? You have been hanging around Uncle too much," Luke quipped with a smirk.

Gabriel scowled at being compared to Luke's eccentric father-figure. "Shut up."

Molly gasped. "That's a bad word! Stop station!" She pointed to the sign on the wall.

"_Merde! __C'est des conneries!_" Gabriel swore in French as he ran his finger through and ruffled his hair until it stuck out in various directions. He sat in the chair and glared at the wall as his coffee brewed.

With the dishwasher running its cycle and all of the glittering blue sand at the bottom of the timer, Tex tugged on Luke's sleeve to get his attention. "What's your name?" he asked innocently.

"We haven't introduced ourselves yet?" Luke asked as he sank to his knees.

Tex shook his head no.

Gabriel crouched next to his friend as he and Molly overheard and approached. "That's silly of us. I'm Gabriel." He pointed to his chest. "That's Luke."

"Gabriel? Can we go swimming?" Tex asked with absolutely no conversational transition.

The teens looked to each other, not having an answer readily prepared.

Gabriel placed his hand on Tex's shoulders. "One, it's against the rules to go swimming so soon after eating. You'll get cramps and drown." He knew the tale was more a myth than truth, but he was willing to play the card to help quell the boy's nearly overflowing excitement. "Two, the community pool is closed for the cold season already. Luke and I saw the cover on it when we drove by it today."

"What about the indoor pool at the YMCA?" Luke suggested. "I think they're still open now too," he added as he pulled out his phone and checked the website for confirmation.

Molly and Tex bounced on the balls of their little, bare feet.

Gabriel couldn't find a valid reason to say no. He knew his and Luke's overnight bags in the back of the jeep still had their own swimwear clean, folded, and ready to go since the summer was not that far gone, enabling them to join the munchkins in the water. "Why the h…h…" he stuttered as he quickly tried to catch himself from swearing in front of the impressionable youth, "…_heck_ not? Go get your bathing suits on."

The children both squealed in unadulterated and ear piercing glee. Tex immediately stripped off all his clothing right there among them all, dropping the garments onto the floor in front of Luke and Gabriel's feet, and then pranced to his bedroom, bare butt and ding-a-ling jiggling in the open air.

Luke blinked after the boy. "I wasn't as creepy as that when I did it at his age, was I?"

"Yes, Luke. You were. You still are."

A few minutes later had two bundles of unbridled energy chasing each other in dizzying circles around the living room. One child demanded for the other to be the one to blow up the inflatable floatie rings. The demands evolved into shouts, then eventually an all-out argument. Luke had to step in between them as they prepared their skinny arms to start swinging at each other.

Gabriel came in from the outside. He was tasked to grab the overnight bags so the boys could prepare for the swimming excursion themselves, but Gabriel did not have them in hang. With his face solemn, he regretfully announced, "We can't go to the pool."

His heart shattered into a million pieces when he was answered by three lip quivering pouts.

"Why not?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, Gabe. Why not?" Luke echoed.

Gabriel took in a deep breath and released it quickly so his cheeks billowed out. "We don't have booster seats for the jeep. The law in this state says they're too little to ride anywhere without them, and their mom must have taken theirs with her."

Luke rubbed the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. "Kota and North will figure out we took them without the boosters, then skin us alive for doing it."

Gabriel sank to the floor in front of Molly and took her little hands into his own. "I'm very sorry, tiny bird. No swimming tonight. Go ahead and put your clothes back on, please." In truth, Gabriel was looking forward to a swim too. The craving to play in the water always seemed to strike him right after Nathan closed and winterized the pool in his backyard. However, the look of betrayal in the little girl's brown eyes moved him more than his own selfish desire. He felt like he just squished a kitten in front of her. Gabriel wanted to make up for it somehow

"Uh, where's Tex?" Luke asked.

They found him drinking the remainder Gabriel's coffee that was left sitting unattended on the dining room table.

Luke lifted the mug away from the four year old and held it up and out of reach. "Nuh uh, you little puppy. How about some milk instead? And since we can't go to the pool like we hoped to, I'll make it up to you with something yummy." With a twinkle in his eyes, Luke pulled out four foil-wrapped chocolate kisses from a pocket and placed two in Tex's open hand. He gave the other pair to Molly.

Twenty minutes later, Tex was not able to stay still, even if Luke sat on him. His little legs were constantly running circles around the house, punctuated with sudden shouts, squeals, and playful screams. The boy took advantage of every single moment the teens' backs were turned throughout the night. He managed to slurp up half a dozen Taco Bell hot sauce packets at one point. At another, he was licking pumpkin pie spice out of the container, which really puzzled Luke. The spice rack was well above their heads and certainly not within the child's reach.

The boys tried to occupy the children with a movie. First, they popped in Frozen, hoping to appeal to Molly. She talked through half of the movie, then huffed when the iconic song started and stormed off, telling the boys loudly that she was too old to enjoy that song anymore.

Gabriel sang the song, hoping to woo Molly back to enjoying the movie. She wouldn't have any of it. Luke teased his friend for five seconds for being so familiar with the song, but shortly joined in and sang along. The tune was so catchy and settled into the bones. Luke just couldn't seem to let it go.

To bait Molly back into the living room, Gabriel switched the movie to some episodes of My Little Pony. That worked. The girl came back in and proceeded to detail the entire history of the main characters and their town of Ponyville as the episode played on the television screen.

Tex didn't watch a minute of television. He was too busy bouncing off the walls. The boys eventually got him to sit down when they stuck an iPad in his lap. The four year old expertly navigated to the YouTube app and was enthralled with toy review videos. For some reason, the boy got a kick out of watching fully grown adults play with toys intended for toddlers in front of a camera.

Luke took the iPad away when Tex moved on from the toy reviews to fan made videos of the My Little Pony crew twerking and performing other sexually suggestive dances rife with Gabriel-worthy expletives.

Gabriel gave Molly a mini-makeover by pretending to apply make up to her face, brushing and braiding her hair into an elaborate style worthy of a fairy tale princess, then rummaging through her dresser and closet to assemble the best princess outfits that suited her.

Luke tried to engage Tex with books, stories, castle building with legos. But the boy was so wound up, he could not focus on one task for more than two minutes before darting off to find something new to get into. All Luke could do was chase after the child and try to clean up the mess in his wake.

Gabriel wound up at the stop station three more times.

When the sugar rush ended, the little boy and girl crashed, and they crashed hard. Luke and Gabriel crashed right with them.

When Jordiscy arrived back home, she found all four of them passed out haphazardly on the couch in the living room. Tex was sleeping in Gabriel's lap, his little thumb in his mouth. A strip of masking tape was over his shirt, the name "Dr. Hooves" written in black sharpie. Gabriel had a matching name label that said "Potty Mouth".

Luke and Molly were sleeping with the sides of their heads leaning against each other. His blonde hair was braided together with her brown, attaching them together. Molly's name tape said "Pinky Pie." Luke's said he was "Cupcake Sprinkles."

Jordiscy quietly snickered to herself and let them rest after she whipped out her smartphone and quickly snapped a picture, promising herself to request these two again the next time she needed babysitters.

**A/N: This one is dedicated to all the moms who need a nap. Names have been changed to protect the identities of the underage and innocent. Okay, maybe the not-so-innocent.**


End file.
